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Malcolm Foley makes a bold argument about the ways our historical sins continue to reverberate into the present and how the Church is compelled to respond.

The plaintiffs include five regional synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and three regional Quaker groups. Three denominations are also listed: American Baptist Churches USA, Alliance of Baptists, and Metropolitan Community Churches.

Claire Hoffman chronicles the dramatic rise, mysterious disappearance, and near-fall of Aimee Semple McPherson, America’s most famous woman evangelist.

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Church

This issue of A Public Witness takes off on a quest to understand what the recent Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Brent Leatherwood debacle tells us about religion and politics.

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act bars governments from imposing land use regulations that put a substantial burden on religious exercise without a compelling reason for doing so.

The kerfuffle over Leatherwood's status, which played out in competing press releases from ERLC leaders, is the latest controversy for the SBC's public policy arm.

Nation

President Donald Trump ran on a campaign promise to ‘bring back religion.’ The NEH grants he canceled include several that advance understanding of Judaism and Christianity.

The Supreme Court is deciding a case brought by parents who say books taught in school violate their religious rights.

The email, prompted by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February, makes no mention of how to report bias or discrimination against other faiths.

World

Archbishop Welby spent several days in Jerusalem last week following the attack on Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7 and the ensuing assaults on Gaza by Israeli forces.

Draft law 8371, which requires another vote before moving to the president’s desk, would give Ukrainian authorities power to examine the connection of religious groups in Ukraine to the Russian Federation and to ban those whose leadership is outside of Ukraine.

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, multiple Christian church buildings and facilities have been damaged. Rev. Hanna Massad shared an update about the war’s impact on the small Christian community on the day after the “devastating explosion” at the only Christian hospital in the besieged territory.

Editorials

Brian KaylorThe release of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s “Illumination Project” quickly sparked criticism from Fundamentalists on the right — and the left.

Brian KaylorI no longer turn the news on the radio when my son in the car. Last month, in particular, the moral failings of our leaders and celebrities made the news seem rated

Brian KaylorWith the start of a new year, state lawmakers will return to their chambers for a new legislative session. Christians should pay attention to bills under consideration. Although the debates and tweets

Word&Way Voices

Rev. Darron LaMonte Edwards writes that he is feeling weary from the announcement that another unarmed Black man was killed. But as a Christian community, we cannot afford to get tired of speaking up for victims like Tyre Nichols. This problem has solutions.

Rev. Angela Denker reflects on the church life her kids don't get to live and how at times it feels like it would be easier to uncompromisingly champion a strong and central Church, one that can afford to take for granted its place at the center of American community and

Contributing writer Rodney Kennedy argues that the bully pulpit of yesteryear has effectively been replaced by bully politics — but we will never fully understand how this happened until we examine how cruelty is often disguised as a form of humor.

E-Newsletter

This issue of A Public Witness listens to Hawley’s recent speech at the National Conservatism Conference to consider how he attempts to rewrite history and redefine Christianity to support his partisan gospel.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you to church to consider the dangers of transforming Sunday worship into a campaign rally.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you inside Sunday’s Independence Day service at an influential megachurch to better understand the heretical danger of Christian Nationalism and its pervasiveness in our churches and culture.

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Recent Episodes

Books

Robert D. Cornwall reviews the book The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr. Part memoir and part history, the book serves as a strong rebuttal to patriarchalism and complementarianism.

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Tradition and Apocalypse: An Essay on the Future of Christian Belief by David Bentley Hart. He argues that the book challenges our certainties and pushes our buttons, but with the war in Ukraine raising the profile

Robert D. Cornwall reviews Living Under Water: Baptism as a Way of Life by Kevin J. Adams. Cornwall makes the case that this book can help us gain a better sense of what baptism means so that we can live

Over the course of the past two years, the preachers of the Washington National Cathedral have addressed the grief, loneliness, and other trials of the COVID-19 pandemic through sermons each Sunday.